Have you ever missed out on an opportunity that you later regretted? A couple of months ago I had a chance to attend a conference that was packed with stuff that would benefit me both now and in the future. I was signed up and ready to go but a few days before the conference I made excuses about why I couldn't or shouldn't go. Long story short, I talked myself out of going, convincing myself that even though it was a good conference it wasn't like it was going to "change my world" or anything.
The afternoon of the conference my phone rang and the voice belonged to an old friend on the other line. He was at the conference and noticed my name tag had gone unclaimed. "Where are you?" he asked. It turns out there were lots of guys there that I hadn't seen in a long time, guys who had a significant hand in shaping my spiritual formation. As a result of skipping out on the conference I missed a wonderful opportunity for fellowship with these guys.
Mark 6:45-52 is a curious passage of Scripture that I wrestled with this morning and, at the risk of totally botching up the interpretation of that passage, I believe it serves as a warning for Christians not to let important encounters with God pass us by. Jesus has just fed the 5,000 and as He is sending them on their way His disciples get into their boat to sail across Galilee to a town called Bethsaida. After Jesus enjoys some time alone in prayer, He walks across the sea to make His way to the other side. There is a wind storm raging and the disciples are struggling to row their boat. Jesus sees this yet he "came toward them waking on the sea and wanted to pass them by" (verse 48). I wonder why that is? Why wasn't His initial intent to approach their boat and get in with them? When the disciples saw Him they cried out in fear - they thought He was a ghost - and Jesus told them to essentially chill out. It was then that He got in the boat with them and sailed with them to the other side.
Jesus almost passed them by. In the midst of their struggles they cried out and Jesus stopped to help them. Yet verse 52 says that their hearts were still hardened toward Jesus. In other words, they didn't understand exactly who He was nor the nature of these wonderful things He was doing. They were missing it, about to allow Him to pass them by. Had they not cried out would Jesus have kept going?
Jesus did stop to help His disciples, yet they still didn't quite understand the depth of who He was or of what His desire was for their lives. If you fast forward to Mark 8:27-29 you see that at least one of them, Peter, finally got it when he declared that Jesus was the Messiah, the Promised One who would save the world. After a series of incredible encounters the disciples no longer allowed Jesus to pass them by. Instead, they walked with Him and eventually went on to lead the greatest movement of God on earth that has ever been witnessed.
Don't allow even the most simple of moments in life to pass you by. We don't dictate just how it is that God wants to move in our lives or what He wants to reveal to us, but we serve a God who is not silent. He is always moving in ways that, if we were to catch even a small glimpse, would blow us away. When He moves it's best that we move with Him so that we don't get left in His wake.
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